TSX Ends Sharply Lower As Stocks Fall On Hot Inflation Data, Interest Rate Concerns

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market ended sharply lower on Tuesday as stocks across the board fell on sustained selling pressure after hot inflation data, and on concerns about interest rate outlook after U.S. retail sales increased more than expected in the month of July.

Rising concerns over the health of the Chinese economy hurt as well.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a loss of 390.75 points or 1.93% at 19,899.79, near the day's low of 19,888.28.

Mirroring widespread selling, all the sectoral indices ended in negative territory.

Materials and energy shares tumbled on weak commodity prices. The Materials Capped Index fell 3.4%, and the Energy Index dropped 2%.

The Financials Capped Index ended nearly 2% down, while the Healthcare and Industrials Indices fell 1.67% and 1.65%, respectively. The rest of the indices shed between 1 and 1.33%.

Data released by Statistics Canada this morning showed the annual inflation rate in Canada rose to 3.3% in July 2023 from 2.8% in the previous month and above market expectations of 3%.

On a monthly basis, the CPI rose 0.6% in July, following a 0.1% increase in June.

Canadian annual core inflation stayed at a 2-year low of 3.2% for the second month in July. Economists had expected core inflation to come in at 2.8%.

First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO) fell more than 7%. Premium Brands Holdings Corporation (PBH.TO), Methanex Corporation (MX.TO), Canadian Tire Corporation (CTC.TO), Teck Resources (TECK.B.TO) and Nutrien (NTR.TO) lost 3.7 to 5.6%.

Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO), Franco-Nevada Corporation (FNV.TO), WSP Global (WSP.TO), BRP Inc (DOO.TO), Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) and Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) were among the other major losers.

Shawcor (MATR.TO) and Cargojet (CJT.TO) gained 4.8% and 3.2%, respectively.